Chapter -149: Roar of the Earth
It was a long day and night following the events at Justek's home. Sarajin didn't really want to think about much and just laid there on his bed, waiting for the next day to come around. Of course he had his daily meals, but didn't speak up.
He only really started feeling the urge to think positively again when he was about to go to sleep. Since he could put today's events behind him, and tomorrow, would get to explore a new location at long last.
"Oreore...I wonder what they're like." They certainly made a powerful first impression, that's for sure.
So he drifted off to sleep, letting his imagination of what little he knew about the Earth element fill in the blanks in his dreams, allowing him to drift off peacefully towards the morning.
When the crack of dawn came about Moses' squawking woke him right up with his eyes wide open. He then dragged himself out of bed, got his poncho on, and prepared for a proper day of adventuring.
But of course it'd be rude to leave without enjoying his mom's breakfast, appreciating all the hard work she put into scrambling his eggs and buttering the toast.
It's hard to imagine how she does it sometimes, but she always pulls through when his stomach needs her the most.
During this time he looked up at his dad a few times and saw him looking back. Neither of them said a word to each other but that's fine, Sarajin though, as he just wanted to eat and be out of here.
Once his plate was clean, save a few scraps for Moses to have later, he leaned out to peck his mom on the cheek and then prepared to head off.
"Off again, are we?" His mother said, rooting for his enthusiasm quietly.
"Yep, this time me and Justek are definitely going to make it to Oreore!" Sarajin proclaimed.
"You never did say why you returned so early yesterday," His father suddenly spoke up, setting a tension in the air between them, "Is everything ok, son?"
Sarajin looked at him dead in the eyes and then rolled his shoulders as he turned towards the door.
"Why do you care?" He muttered.
"Sarajin!" Only to be frozen stiff by the sound of his mother raising her voice at him. He cautiously eyed over his shoulder and saw her brows crossed at him, "You don't speak that way to your father!"
Sarajin's eyes sunk and the urge to rebel began to bud inside of him. With a blunt turn towards the door he blurted out, "Well what does he know?! He was wrong about the surface!"
He then ran out the door, leaving his heart racing and a little in pain as he heard his mom shouting his name behind him.
If he saw the way his mom's mouth went agape, it would've broken his heart, just like he had broken hers.
"Oh dear..." She murmured, placing her fingertips over her mouth.
"See where being lenient has gotten us?" Darnia said, none too happy to have proven his wife right.
"He's never been this bold with his words before." Misty replied, shaking her head in shame.
"Bold? No. Arrogant? Yes," Darnia sighed and set his fork down on his plate, "And he's going to keep doing this until he's set straight."
"I just wanted him to follow his dreams, I didn't think it'd turn my boy into such an asshole." Misty said, her tongue sharpening into a blunt point.
"Do not worry my love," Darnia said, reaching out to put a tender hand on her shoulder, "I'm confident this rebellious streak of his will be put to an early grave."
He then pulled away, the fear in his wife's eyes subsiding just a bit. Then, to his lonesome, he whispered, "It has to, before he keeps going down this path..."
Sarajin made his way out of the village trying not to let his dad weigh him down any longer. He was going to do what he knew was right, and that was adventure with his friend Justek all across the planet.
And sure, the knowledge of the Rot Walkers made that a little more tense than before, but with the way Justek's father described them all he just had to do was be cautious and they wouldn't attack him.
As he was nearing Justek's village he looked down and saw a few of those molded beasts wandering the lands. They probably still hungered for fear, even after their leader slumbered.
Looking at them without the veil of fear in the air, they were just so unlike anything Sarajin had ever seen before. Devoid of joy or bright color, they were walking creatures of filth, scabbed and scarred.
And he never would've even known they existed had he just spent all his time up in the sky...It definitely was the first unpleasant knowledge he had gained from his time down in the surface. And a part of him would've liked to forget about it.
He then shook his head and continued to dive carefully towards the village. Repairs were underway and the bodies had been carried out. Sarajin could see massive mounds of stone miles away from the village to the North, each one adorned with a cross made out of spears.
The dead were respected, and he could only let his curiosity get away from him over how their bodies would be dealt with.
An unpleasant thought to be sure, and one he'd swiftly discard when he saw his friend standing around waiting for him in front of the gates.
He was leaning underneath the arch and was occasionally glancing up at the sky, his efforts paying off when Sarajin landed a moment later.
"You're here sooner than I expected." Justek remarked.
"I didn't have to deal with any distractions today." Sarajin said, letting that be the last time he lingered on the situation back home.
With a perky smile he looked up at his friend's face and asked, "So? Are you ready to go?"
Justek nudged his glasses into place and cocked a minor smile of his own, "We're both in a rush to leave, it seems. But did you prepare properly?"
"Huh?" Sarajin stared at him with the eyes of an owl.
"...You, do realize we're in for a long walk, right? We're going to need some hydration this time." When Justek brought that up Sarajin continued to stare, but with his pupils shrinking slowly.
"Haaa," Justek shook his head and waved his hand up, "I swear it's like you're purposefully wanting me to rescue you from your own recklessness..."
"SO-rry!" Sarajin bemoaned, rubbing the back of his head, "Do you have anything to drink here?"
"Why yes, we could sip on the blood of the fallen," Justek chuckled, but when Sarajin's face turned a little pale he grimaced and mumbled, "...Ok even I have to admit that's in bad taste."
He then discarded the subject with a shrug of his hand and remarked, "Aquamoria's along the way, we should be able to get something to drink there."
"Sounds good to me!"
"And, as far as my own preparations go, I made sure to review my facts on Oreore before I went to sleep," Justek closed his eyes and smirked, "Not that my memories of such were ever in doubt."
"Better safe than sorry, yeah?" Sarajin said with a grin.
"Indeed. Though, I can't say I'm exactly pleased to go to that place next..." Justek slowly went into a mumble, crossing his arms in a way that got Sarajin's attention.
"Is there something we need to worry about?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Oh, you'll understand when we get there." Him leaving it vague did rile up Sarajin's explorative nature, which was intended to help them finally get a move on.
"Ok! Lets go!" Sarajin shouted, turning and beginning their long march across the wastelands to Oreore.
Along the way they saw some Rot Walkers and made sure to keep their distance. They came in a variety of species, some so huge they looked as tall as they did from a mile away.
Sarajin wanted to know more about them but all Justek knew was as much as his dad had said. These creatures didn't even have individual names for their species.
It really made them come across as more unsettling than they had been before, when Sarajin at least assumed they could be called something other than one unified title.
Fortunately they were soon out of sight and out of mind as they entered Aquamoria and picked up a couple of coconut wood cylinders to drink water out of it. It was a little salty but went down well enough to keep them hydrated on the remainder of their walk to Oreore.
Soon Arc Hurricanos was passing by overhead, causing Sarajin to face and point up at it, "See Justek? That's my home up there!"
Justek put his glasses into position as he craned his head back and squinted against the light of the sun, "Yes, I do believe I saw it once before while we in Aquamoria."
"I wish I could take my friends up there to see my parents," Sarajin started wandering off on a tangent, "If dad knew there were friendly people down on the surface, maybe he'd stop thinking it's dangerous and let me come down without making a fuss every time."
"Doubt it," Justek said in a dismissive tone, "Parents aren't only stupid they're stubborn."
Swirling his water container around, he took a sip and then following a refreshed sigh he remarked, "Dare I say I'd rather face the Devil than whatever form my father's pigheadedness would take."
"Hey at least your dad lets you leave the village," Sarajin said, turning around with his hands behind his head, "I pretty much had to escape mine!"
"Hmph, one point to my growling nitwit of a father then..." Justek said in a mild tone.
Sarajin then turned around and glanced around. The temperature was starting to feel a little hotter, but not as bad as it could get in Aquamoria. Still, nothing looked or felt different otherwise.
"We didn't get lost, did we?" He wondered aloud.
"Just a straight walk east from Aquamoria is all we needed to take," Justek was there to assuage some of his concerns, "Unfortunately we're dealing with an element that already comprises roughly half of the planet's surface..."
"Then how are we supposed to find the village if everything looks the same as always?" Sarajin wondered.
"Hmmm, look on ahead," Justek said, brandishing his pointer finger over Sarajin's shoulder briefly, "You see that ravine in the distance?"
Sarajin squinted and then fluttered his eyelashes a bit. Justek laid his hand out flat and sighed, "...The two giant slanted rocks with the massive gap between them."
"Oh, you mean that?" Sarajin pointed out at what had been described to him: A pair of rocks with jagged slants going towards the sky, ending on a sharp peak. Between them was a gap that seemed to wind around and lead further into somewhere. From this far out, this "ravine" looked about as big as Arc Hurricanos as a whole.
"Yes. That's the village, I believe."
"Alright, we're almost there, with plenty of sunlight to burn!" Sarajin pumped his fist into the air and shouted, "Onward!"
"We did make pretty good time, all things considered," Justek did a grumble a bit towards the end, "Though I wish this wasn't such a pain on my feet."
"Yeah, if only the ground was softer," Sarajin said, looking down at the bit of redness beneath his foot. He then dropped it down hard and remarked, "But hey, at least I'm able to walk a lot longer than I could before!"
"It'd be so much easier if you could carry me and fly at the same time." Justek said, semi-humorously.
"Right?" Sarajin looked down at his thin arms and remarked fondly, "If only I was as strong as Lulu..."
"...You do realize I was joking, correct?" Justek said, curiously tilting his head.
Sarajin snapped upright and then turned around, rubbing the back of his head, "O-Of course!"
"Hmmm..." Justek gleamed into his eyes but like that was necessary to dispel his dishonesty. He shook his head and then gestured his hand up, "By the way, I was thinking..."
"What's up?" Sarajin inquired with a keen look in his eyes.
"Before we enter Oreore it might be for the best if you took your poncho off."
Sarajin tugged up at the bottom of his poncho and then looked it over carefully, "Why, is there something on it?"
"Nothing on it specifically, just..." Justek scratched the side of his face and entered a very long and awkward pause. He was staring Sarajin directly in the eyes, waiting for a response that would never come, save for the unsavory blank look on his face.
"...Look, remember how that Lulu woman figured out you were from Arc Hurricanos?" Justek poked the front of Sarajin's poncho bluntly, "It's your poncho. Its a dead giveaway."
"Really? You mean nobody else wears ponchos down here?" Sarajin was a little shocked to realize that.
"I mean, have you SEEN any others so far?" Justek rubbing it in made the point more notable to him, at least.
"...Huh," Sarajin then stared at his poncho some more and hesitated, "But my mom put a lot of work into this..."
"I mean if you want your adventure to go off the rails again because of some adult causing trouble..."
"Alright, fair point." Sarajin grunted out a sigh and then raised his arms up to help move the poncho off. He was then able to bundle it up into a roll that, despite the slats, left it just the right size to fit into his pocket, albeit poking up a bit.
Justek then blinked a couple times and uttered out a random "Huh" causing Sarajin to look at him and wonder, "Now what?"
"I never realized how much that one piece of clothing was keeping you from looking so plain, Sarajin." Justek said, holding nothing back.
"I kind of feel naked without the poncho, to be honest," He said, observing over himself with a few twists to get the back, "But if it'll keep the adults off our back."
"Hopefully, at least." Justek tried to remain somewhat optimistic and with that minor detour out of the way, the two continued on towards the ravine.
As they were nearing closer it was towering more and more over them, to the point that the two were just a pebble to it comparatively speaking.
Even the skybound Sarajin could feel a sense of vertigo trying to crane his head back enough to see the very top as they neared the mouth of the ravine.
Which was unfortunate seeing how when the ground began to tremble, this caused him to lose balance and fall on the back of his head. It gave him a good jolt but he was able to get right back up the moment the trembling subsided.
"That was just like we felt in Aquamoria," He said, rubbing the sore spot on his head, "But it's not as strong this time..."
The ground then trembled again. This time however Sarajin merely flinched for a moment and then stiffened his legs in place, refusing to let the ground have at his face again.
There were a series of these trembling sensations, varying from stronger or weaker than the first ones. And it didn't seem like they would stop anytime soon.
In fact, some of them felt like they were getting closer, getting stronger over time. The two of them were engulfed by a massive shadow coming from the south, and as Sarajin turned to face it he was greeted by a trumpeting roar that blew his hair back as hard as a gust of wind.
He had to take a leap back as a massive foot came crashing down, attached to a leg as tall and sturdy as a tree. And that led to a titanic sandy colored, wrinkly skinned creature with long, drooping ears covered in pebbles. It had a very wide face and two long, slightly curved but thick bones that nearly reached the ground. Attached between the two bones was this blanket-like membrane that went up to the bottom of the face, with one solid point at the dead center of the part connecting to the face.
It lumbered forward into the ravine, carrying with it chunks of brown stone on the membrane. And on top of the beast was a man with dirt all over his skin, a bare open vest, and a very muscular body, surpassing even the likes of the toughest fishermen in Aquamoria.
"Steady there, girl!" The man could barely be heard shouting, for the footsteps of its mount overtook him.
As it continued to advance into the ravine, Sarajin was standing there mouth agape.
He then heard a "Whoosh!" in the air and jumped back further, his heart racing as the beast's tail, with the end made of a spiked sphere of sleek black rock, almost grazed him.
Even the breeze of the wagging tail was enough to put him on his rear, hands flat on the ground as he was frozen on the sight of the titan.
He grinned from cheek-to-cheek, watching as the beast walked between both sides of the ravine, where many more men were standing on ledges and walls. Holes were burrowed into the walls by these tools with spiral shaped metal attached to them. Others picked away at them with these sharp, two-sided body tall implements.
And if the beast's footsteps weren't enough to make some noise, the sounds of their tools clanging against the different colored tiers of the ravine certainly more than made up for it.
The people were obviously shouting out to one another but none of it could be heard, even if Sarajin's ears weren't ringing at the moment.
"Wow...!" He was hooked right away, springing back up to his feet and taking a few steps closer to the ravine, "Look at all the people working!"
Justek walked right up beside him and remarked, "They don't call this place the Rigorous Quarries for nothing."
Sarajin took his first steps in-between the ravine walls and twirled around, gazing up at all the rocks in sight, "There's so many types of rocks here! I wonder how many there are in total?"
"These aren't rocks, silly," Justek said, flaunting his brain, "This is where metal comes from."
"Metal?" Sarajin crossed his arms and tilted his head. When Justek just about had the first word out Sarajin flinched and proclaimed, "Oh! Like what the hooks in Aquamoria are made out of!"
Justek slowly closed his mouth and nodded, "Yes, you picked up on that. Good."
He then waved his hand around towards the walls and remarked, "I might be able to identify a few if we got closer..."
The resounding sound of metal banging against metal caused Justek to tremble all over for a few seconds and then plant his hands against the side of his ears.
Looking very peeved, he grumbled aloud, "But I think we should keep away if we want to keep our ears intact."
"What?!" Sarajin shouted.
"I said, I think we should keep away if we want to keep our ears intact!" Justek replied, raising his voice further.
"Oh!" Sarajin nodded, "But then how are we going to go exploring?!"
"I don't have the answer!" Justek sounded a bit frustrated at this point, "Look, why don't we try finding somewhere a little less noisy first?!"
Sarajin gave a thumbs up and declared that to be a "Good idea!"
Justek then pulled his hands away and the two of them marched onward through the ravine. Since conversation was a no-go for now Sarajin just decided to look around and take in the sights.
That big creature they saw just a moment ago had stopped at the first bend of the ravine, and had jammed the tips of its bones into the wall. The man on top pulled up a sturdy wooden stick with a metal cylinder built on top of it and hopped down to the front of the membrane, going into a hole that seemed much bigger on the inside than the entrance would've suggested.
On second inspiration, Sarajin could see a square hole cut into the side that looked a little like a window, which is what made him think, "Oh cool! That must be their house!"
"..." Thinking about it a little more, inspired right as a loud metallic echo entered his ears, "How could anyone get any sleep like this?"
There were a couple more of those beasts further into the ravine, these ones being smaller than the first, but not like that was saying much.
One was walking towards them, but the membranes were rolled up into a bendy tube with two holes at the end, through which it let out a trumpeting roar.
But what really took Sarajin unawares was that the creature had just one big, oval-shaped eye in the dead center of its face, mostly orange with some bits of yellow and one diamond shaped pupil in the middle.
Sarajin stopped and kept staring up at the eye until he couldn't no more. Then he turned and hurried on up behind Justek. Since it was somewhat quieter he tried talking again, "Do you know what those freaky one-eyed giants are?"
"They're called Argent Heavers."
"A weird name for weird animals, I guess," Sarajin kept walking, his arms swaying by his sides, "And they're so big!"
"They'd have to be to carry all those rocks and metals in their trunks."
"I wonder if it's like Aquamoria, and they have a currency based around the different types of rocks and metals?"
"That's not a bad guess, honestly. I was thinking the same thing." Justek said, flashing a brief smile of pride.
"Wouldn't you know?" Sarajin said, leaning his head out with a puzzled tilt.
Justek's eyes widened and he stood aside to give a lofty shrug, "Of course I do! I am simply interpreting the knowledge using my own genius!"
"Hmmm..." Sarajin put his hands behind his head and then tilted to look past Justek, where he saw someone standing at ground level lifting and slamming their curved metal tool into the wall. The way the metal beat against metal was a feeling Sarajin felt in his arms, and it left him tingling with excitement.
He then curled his lower lip and wondered aloud, "I wonder what I'd have to do to get one of those?"
Justek briefly looked back and then started chuckling. Raising and shaking his hand in the air dismissively, he rained on his parade with almost a certain degree of delight, "You're nowhere near fit enough to be a miner, Sarajin."
"What makes you say that?" Sarajin was quick to defend himself, "I can lift a fishing pole and that's got wood and metal on it, so why would it be any harder with the same kind of tool?"
"..." Justek pinched the space between his eyes and groaned, "I-I don't even know where to start with that."
He settled for putting his arms against his chest and explaining it his way, "Look, you just don't have the strength for it. Everyone has things they excel at, and mining isn't what you do best at."
"What DO I do best at, Justek?" Wasn't exactly the type of question Justek was expecting to hear shot back in his face but nevertheless he started off trying to answer it honestly.
"Why that's simple, its..." Only to part way through pause with the same, smug look on his face for a good ten seconds. Then he put his arms back together and remarked, "Y-You know what, it's not important. The point is, if you try and lift one of those tools, you're liable to break your arm."
Sarajin pouted for a moment and then, while the subject was still fresh, he had to wonder, "Could you lift one?"
Justek turned sideways and gave a carefree shrug as he answered, "Probably. Wouldn't be too hard either I imagine."
"Gee, you're smart and strong, Justek."
Justek did ruffle his nose a bit with pride at that, "But of course. There are some people in this world born to excel at a lot of things. But personally, I find my brain more impressive than my brutish strength."
"I wish I could be more like you." Sarajin said, letting out a meager sigh.
Justek glanced at him from out of the corner of his eyes and then following a dull "Hmph" looked at him and said, "Don't be saying such silly things. Now come on, it's starting to get noisier around here."
More of these "miners" were walking up along the walls in this section, banging away at the metal to dislodge chunks of it out. It looked like they had been at it in this area for quite a while and yet there was still so much work for them to do.
Some of the holes in the walls even led downward, deeper and deeper into the planet's crust. The people inside were holding up glowing colored rocks to allow them to see where they were going, and if Sarajin were to be honest right now, he wanted to get one for himself.
Maybe later though. As they continued further down the winding ravine, it was clear they were still so very far off from reaching an end point.
But the noise started to settle down again, so he spoke up with a bit of elation to his voice, "If I can't mine, then maybe we could collect some of these rocks for ourselves?"
Justek raised his brows and Sarajin flailed his hands up defensively, "W-With permission from the leader of course! I just think it'd be cool to take something back home as proof we came here!"
Justek paused and to collect his thoughts for a moment, humming until the moment it all became clear in his head, "I suppose there is one type of gem I'd like to obtain."
"Gem?"
"Think rocks, but sleeker and shinier."
"Oh, like a ruby!" Sarajin blurted out.
Justek stared at him and sputtered, "That's...not a term I expected you to know."
"Well, my mom has a ruby ring she wears all the time. She tells me it's a symbol of her and dad's marriage." It was one of the few bright things he could bring up regarding his dad.
"Huh, well color me surprised in more ways than one." Justek said, putting his glasses back into place.
"Soooo, what type of gem do you want?" Sarajin said with a curious gleam in his eyes.
"It's called Luminode. It has this bioluminescent material inside of it that lights up when its outer layer comes in contact with another object of equal density," Justek closed his eyes and smiled, "Naturally, I would use this as a way to read at night."
"That sounds really cool but I don't think I'd have a use for that." Sarajin crossed his arms and tried to think of something he'd want to have, only to quickly fry his brain at all the possibilities presented before him.
"Mrrr..." He groaned like he was in physical pain.
"Good lord, Sarajin, you're getting ahead of yourself again," Justek's blunt tone snapped Sarajin out of it and led to his next point, "We'll find the leader first. Might be a little hard though, as everyone's all dirty and muscular..."
"HOO HA!" Screamed someone really close by, causing Justek to wince.
"Not to mention loud...!" He growled.
"Heh heh!" Sarajin grinned big and then asked, "Before we move on can we take a break? My feet could use a rest."
"Good call," Justek said, "One of these caverns should be empty enough for us to take a rest in."
He looked around and then snapped his fingers a little further inward, "Like that one there."
"Alright, lets go!" Sarajin followed Justek to the cavern he picked out and while it wasn't too bright inside, it did seem to be quite empty.
"Hooo!" Sarajin breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the sudden influx of cool air coming over him, "This is more like it!"
His voice reverberated around the walls, hitting the back and then returning to him a few times over. He smiled and then leaned back against the smooth rock, letting himself slide down to the floor and relax.
Justek decided to stand and pay attention outside, where miners of all sorts were walking around, hauling rocks, metals and minerals in their arms or working with others to carry them on long, stone slabs.
"I wonder how long it'd take us to reach the end of this ravine?" Sarajin wondered.
"Quite a while, and even then there'd be more land to walk across," Justek remarked, "Oreore is the largest Tribe of the bunch by a fair margin."
"'Large' is definitely how I'd describe this place!" Sarajin said humorously, "Everything from the people to the animals are larger than life!"
"Pretty great ain't it?"
"Yeah! It's cool, isn't it Justek!"
"Huh?" Justek turned towards him and remarked, "I didn't say anything else."
"What? Then who-" He turned back and found someone standing over his shoulder with a hole in their front teeth that made his surprise appearance turn frightening.
"'ello there!" The figure proclaimed with an accent different from that of the Aquamorians, more thick and a little harder to understand what they were saying.
"Ah!" Sarajin sprang to his feet and backed away to the entrance, with the figure following, better exposing them to the light.
They seemed to be their age and were dirtied up from head-to-toe, having very messed up brown hair going down to their shoulders. Even with yellow eyes and a body more built than even what Brine had they had an overall friendly demeanor. They wore an open vest made from a brown leather hide and dirtied up baggy white pants, using an orange sash to hold them up. Like everyone seemed to prefer in Genestasia, he was bare-footed.
He carried the kind of tool with a metal cylinder on top over his left shoulder and did so with ease. He hunched over with a grin for a while and then lifted his head and remarked, "Oh hol' up a moment 'ere..."
He squinted his eyes and remarked, "Whatcha doin' in here?"
Sarajin saw a friendly face and felt a little more relieved but a lot more embarrassed for himself having been caught in here like this, "I-I'm sorry, we thought this place was empty! We were trying to catch our breath a bit!"
"Oh if that's all I ain't gonna throw stones at ya for that!" The boy stood tall and jiggled his tool over his shoulder.
"Really? It's ok for us to be here?" Sarajin said.
"Sure. I don't...mine!" The boy then slapped his chest and reeled back in laughter.
Sarajin winched with one brow rising while Justek crossed his arms and let out a groan, "Oh joy, another dimwit."
"Justek...!" Sarajin whispered out the corner of his mouth.
He then was surprised by the presence of a hand being extended towards him when he looked back.
The boy gave his most earnest grin and said, "Name's Ezekiel Gaia, chaps! What's yours?"
Sarajin grabbed his hand and tried to give it a firm shake only for the boy to beat him to the punch and nearly crunch his bones to dust.
"Name's Sarajin-EEEEE!" He was allowed to pull his hand away and shake the pain off, trying his best to smile through it.
"Pleasure to meet ya Sarajinee!" Ezekiel then extended his hand towards Justek, who inched back with a tense look on his face.
Sarajin looked at him and whispered, "Justek, don't be rude."
Justek widened his eyes and blurted out, "I must maintain at least some standard of cleanliness, Sarajin."
"Well tell him your name at least. You know, since we're not from around here." Sarajin's insistence somehow worked for once.
"Ugh, fine," Justek settled down a little to say with some attempt at sincerity, "My name is Justek."
Ezekiel's eyes were wide open and his whole body was frozen in place. Justek glared at him while Sarajin waved his hand in front of his face until he blinked.
"You guys are outlanders?!" Ezekiel blurted out with a sudden recoil back.
"...It took him that long to realize that?" Justek said in a smarmy tone, then made a quick glance at Sarajin to remark, "Well, turns out there's someone more ignorant of things than you are, Sarajin."
Sarajin rubbed the back of his head and wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
Ezekiel said, "I just ain't ever seen your sort around before."
"Obviously." Justek replied.
"Yeah, we came from the west to visit your Tribe," Sarajin smiled and gestured his hand out towards Ezekiel, "We were hoping to learn about mining but-"
"Mining?!" Ezekiel perked right up and overpowered the conversation with bravado. He then raised his tool up high and shouted, "The hammer of the Gaias have pounded these 'ere walls for generations!"
He then turned and gestured further into the cave, "C'mon new friends! Lemme demonstrate how it's done!"
"..." Sarajin was staring with his mouth agape as Ezekiel went on ahead of them.
Justek leaned in beside him smirking and said, "That's a rare face on you."
Sarajin grinned awkwardly and then replied, "W-Well at least we'll get to learn how to mine?"
Justek shrugged and the two of them followed Ezekiel a little further into the cavern, where there was still enough light to see.
Ezekiel sat his tool down on the ground and doing so caused the cavern to rumble, and left cracks in the floor. But amazingly, the tool stayed upright.
"Alright, who wants to take the first swing with my trusty hammer?" Ezekiel gestured his hand out towards it.
"A hammer?" Sarajin repeated the name a couple more times in his head while staring down at it. It looked really impressive. It could absolutely break rock with ease.
"Well, you said you could handle mining, Sarajin," Justek said with a slight teasing tone, "So go right ahead, the honor's all yours."
Sarajin put one hand on the hammer's handle, as smooth as the wood he'd come to expect, and then with a determined expression glared at Justek.
"Watch this, Justek!" He put both his hands on the hammer and started to pull. He was able to get it one inch off the ground before it came crashing back down.
He then let out a huff of exhaustion and then stood up, hearing Justek chuckling from behind. Once he caught his breath he tried again, only to hunch over and gasp for air.
"O-Ok this isn't as easy as it looks...!"
"Wow, never seen someone struggle this much," Ezekiel said, "Ye one of those forest fairies or something?"
Sarajin took his hands off and his palms throbbed in pain. He then lightly shook them around, backing away as Ezekiel put his hand on the handle.
"How about you, Justek? Care to take a crack at it?"
"I'll pass," Justek said without hesitation, "My strongest muscle is my brain. I do not intend to partake in brutish labor."
"You said you could do it though, right?" Sarajin remarked.
"Wait, the brain ain't a muscle..." Ezekiel followed.
"...It was a figure of speech." Justek countered.
"Well I figure yer speech is all hot air," Ezekiel remarked, "C'mon, try and lift this hammer! You can't, cause ya need to be as tough as diamond to handle a Gaia family hammer!"
Justek chuckled and raised his brows, "Your childish attempt to prod me into physical labor isn't going to work."
"Can't you give it one try, Justek?" Sarajin asked earnestly, "For me?"
Justek looked at him from the side and then raised his hands, "Fine, I suppose I can make an exception for just one swing of the hammer."
He then took a couple steps forward and Sarajin's eyes were glued onto him as he brushed Ezekiel's hand off the hammer and then grabbed hold of it. With just one hand and not a sign of a grunt or breath, Justek pulled the hammer right out of the ground and swung it atop his shoulder.
Ezekiel's eyes bulged out of their sockets, "W-What in the bloody deuce?!"
"Whoa! You weren't joking!" Sarajin shouted in awe, "How does it feel?!"
Justek turned and shrugged, "Barely feel a thing."
Sarajin giggled in glee as his friend turned back around and inched towards the wall, "So, one swing right here, yes?"
"S-Sure, but do you even know what to do?" Ezekiel inquired, "See, the wall-"
"Of course, I read about it in a book," Justek gripped the hammer in both hands and held it diagonally beside his hip, "Just need to hold it like this and..."
"T-That technique!" Ezekiel was at a loss for words.
"Just swing it!" Justek smashed the hammer into the wall and a circle indent formed where he hit, with cracks emerging around it.
He finally let out a long breath of relief and then put the hammer down next to Ezekiel, dusting his hands off as he marched back to Sarajin full of pride.
"See, the key to mining is to hit a wall until eventually, it cracks-" He paused at the sound of something breaking apart behind him.
"-Apart." He slowly turned around and the three watched as the cracks he made started to spread further up towards the ceiling, advancing along it towards the entrance at a rather rapid pace.
The ground trembled and Ezekiel shouted, "CAVE IN!"
Before anyone could make a move the ceiling collapsed from the entrance to a foot from where they stood, kicking up a massive plume of dust and robbing them of any and all light.
There were a few seconds spent coughing before Justek broke the dry spell by muttering, "...Hmm, so I needed to hold back a little."
"I was gonna tell ya, the walls are delicate down here," Ezekiel remarked, "But I didn't think ya'd cause a cave in!"
"Where's the entrance?" Sarajin spoke up, clearly in a panic, "Where's the entrance?!"
"It's a cave in, chap," Ezekiel murmured nonchalantly, "Sorry to tell ya, we're trapped in here until someone comes and digs us out."
"T-Trapped?!" Sarajin exclaimed, "But there's no light! W-We can barely move!"
"Sarajin, calm down." Justek remarked.
"No! Get me out of here NOW!"
"Get a grip!" Justek shouted, "With this limited space comes limited oxygen. If you keep hyperventilating you'll run out of breath."
"Just take it slow and use your element to provide us with more air. We'll get out of here eventually."
Sarajin tried to settle down just a little, enough to follow along with Justek's instructions. He then steadily provided air into their small pocket to keep them breathing.
But as time slowly passed along, all Sarajin could think about was how calm Justek was in this situation, "He's not just smart, but strong and brave too. Meanwhile all I can do is provide air and fly..."
It was a thought that passed the time along until eventually, the rocks began to shake.
"Heave!" Shouted a faint voice between the cracks. The rocks dislodged a little, and Ezekiel spoke up gleefully.
"That voice...! It's my pop!"
The rocks started to not only crumble away at the group's feet, the larger ones behind them were being lifted up. The sound of incredible exertion was followed by immense triumph from the one making it, as with nothing but the grit of his backside, a towering, muscular man forced the majority of the stones back into the ceiling and held them in place.
Raising his hairy, bearded face with a grin, the man proclaimed in a boisterous tone, "Never ya fear, son! For I am here!"
With the light flushing into the cavern, Ezekiel hoisted his hammer off the ground and made a run for it, "C'mon guys, hurry it up!"
Sarajin's feet were briefly stiff in awe of this man's might but him and Justek ducked and ran past the man to get outside. The man then let out one more grunt and retreated, which caused the rest of the cavern to cave in and kick up a massive plume of dirty dust.
The man walked out of the dust with his head held so high it could reach the peak of this ravine. He was so muscular that his belly had to be a little portly to contain the excess. Like his young boy he had baggy pants, though sandy colored, and didn't seem to care to wear any sort of shirt. He had metal bands tightly bound around his arms and around his neck was a small necklace with a ruby at the center.
He was a powerful and imposing man but all it took was one smile to show that he had a heart of gold underneath all that bulk.
"Sorry ya got wrapped in my son's business strangers." He said with a gruff and gentle tone, bending down to pat the dust off Sarajin's shoulder.
"I-Its fine, sir." Sarajin said meekly.
"Call me Johnathan, young one," He grinned, "67th to bear the Gaia name, and leader of this fine bunch of miners."
He then withdrew his hand into a fist against his chest and whispered, "I'm honored to have such a young outsider be willing to come learn how to mine."
"It's...no problem, sir."
"Heh," Johnathan smirked and then stood up with his arms crossed, "Now boy..."
He went right on up to his son and punched him square atop the skull with his fist. Sarajin recoiled in surprise but honestly, Ezekiel didn't seem to flinch muc.
"The hell ya thinking causing a cave in again?! Ya inherited the Gaia muscles but that don't give ya an excuse to make the planet remember it every other week!"
"But pop, I didn't do it this time!" Ezekiel proclaimed.
"Was I born yesterday, boy?!" Johnathan punched him atop the head again, but he didn't seem to mind, "I ain't always gonna be around to bail ya out. So you better have a skull as strong as the rest of yer bones by then!"
"Alright, alright pop, I get it!" Ezekiel shouted.
Following a brief pause Johnathan smiled and then bent down with his arms outstretched, "Awww, I can't stay mad at ya for long boy. C'mere and give yer old man a hug!"
Ezekiel ran into his chest and then two held each other in an embrace. But it was anything but normal, seeing as the ground was cracking below them every time they tightened their grip on each other's bodies.
When they were done Sarajin and Justek's only reaction was to stare and blink as the father and son patted each other on the back and then pulled their heads back to laugh.
Sarajin couldn't help but smile, but it was a sad one.
Johnathan then turned to the two and remarked, "Really sorry for the trouble though. Can I make it up to ya with a meal from my wife?"
"Sure! It's been a few hours since we've had breakfast." Sarajin remarked.
"Hmmm..." Justek hummed to himself.
"Well follow me then! She'll be sure to fill both yer bellies!" Johnathan led the way through the ravine. However, it took a moment for Justek to catch up.
"...This'll be interesting." He remarked ominously as he began to move.
Next Time: Dividing Lines